This invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector which has first contact portions and second contact portions of contacts with different pitches.
Generally, in the case of connecting an electrical connector to a flat cable, i.e., a planar laminated cable, the spacing between the conductors of the cable may be different than that between conductive elements of the connector to be connected to the cable. In such a case, a prior art electrical connector as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is used. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of this connector and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a contact used in the connector of FIG. 1. In the connector of FIG. 1, a plurality of contacts 1a' through 1g' are inserted and attached into an insulator member 2'. One of these contacts, e.g. the contact 1d', is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the contact 1d' has a first contact portion 11', a second contact portion 12' and a connecting portion 13' which connects the first and the second contact portions. In the connector of FIG. 1, the plurality of first contact portions 11' which are to mate with corresponding individual contacts of another connector are arranged in a pitch L.sub.a ', and the plurality of second contact portions 12' which are to be connected to a flat cable are arranged in a pitch L.sub.b '. These respective pitches L.sub.a ', L.sub.b ' are different from each other, for example, L.sub.a '=2.76 mm and L.sub.b '=2.54 mm. Since the pitches La' and Lb' of the respective first and second contact portions are different from each other as above described, the connecting portions of the respective contacts 1a' through 1g' have inclinations to the axes of their respective first and second contact portions which likewise are necessarily different from each other. In the connector of FIG. 1, the first and the second contact of each contact portions have the same axis before transformation to the positions in the connector to which they respectively are be attached. When so transformed, the contacts are inserted into the respective proscribed holes, or channels, formed in the insulator member 2'.
The connector of FIG. 1 comprises one contact 1d' in which the first and the second contact portions 11', 12' have the same axis and other contacts 1a', 1b', 1c', 1e', 1f' and 1g' in which the respective first and second contact portions 11', 12' are connected through the connecting portion 13' inclined by small, but different and successively grater angles. Therefore, there is a problem in that the height H' of the connector shown in FIG. 1 is increased and hence the overall size of the connector becomes larger. There is another problem in that it requires much time and skill to shape each of contacts 1a' through 1g' for the adjustment of the pitch L.sub.b ' of the second contact portions 12'. The above mentioned prior art electrical connector is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,299.